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Sep 30, 2010

Thursday September 30, 2010 David Poole

Theme: I, for one, welcome our new bird overlords - All the two-word theme answers start with a type of bird that, except for the center, when taken in full are not actually about birds per se. The clues are indicated with a "?" to indicate a wacky interpretation. (Note: All the two-word theme clues are BB alliterative.)

18A. Bird bonnet?: ROBIN HOOD. Speculation on his "realness" mostly debunked, a few shreds of speculative coincidence for two different men named Robert Hood.

50A. Bird backpackers?: EAGLE SCOUTS. Gerald Ford was the only US President to ever be one.

56A. Bird bottoms?: KITE TAILS. A kite is a raptor in the same family as hawks, eagles and other birds of prey.

Al here.

Did you notice a lot of artist references, or is it just me? Composers, painters, Actors, directors, poets, writers, performers. Or, maybe that's just another way to say there were a lot of proper names in the puzzle. Even so, most of the cluing didn't seem all that tricky. I didn't need any helper squares, and finished it faster than Dan's puzzle yesterday.

10. "Once I had ... love and it was __": Blondie lyric: A GAS. Heart of Glass. This clip contains the original PITA phrase that they had to clean up to perform on TV. Most wouldn't give it a second thought today.

22. Director Wertmüller: LINA. The original "Swept Away" movie before the, perhaps, not so great Madonna remake.

23. Hound over a debt: DUN."to insist on payment of debt," 1620s, perhaps related to dunnen "to sound, resound, make a din", or shortened from dunkirk "privateer," a private vessel licensed to attack enemy ships during wartime, from Dunkirk, French port from which they sailed. The oldest theory traces it to a Joe Dun, supposedly a London bailiff famous for catching defaulters.

39. Author Silverstein: SHEL. Cartoonist, poet, and songwriter. Along with his children's books, he also wrote "The Unicorn Song" which was a big hit for the Irish Rovers.

40. First first name in Olympic gymnastic tens: NADIA. Comăneci. She grew up...

41. Cardinal Cooke: TERENCE. Later Archbishop of New York.

45. 1,000 G's: MIL. Million, one megabuck.

46. Free TV ad: PSA. Public Service Announcement. No longer a mandate that stations must air them for free.

49. Suffix with expert: ISE.

53. Cubs, on scoreboards: CHI. One of two Chicago baseball teams.

54. Morlock haters: ELOI. The Time Machine races.

55. Clawed: TORE AT.

59. "Tootsie" Oscar winner: LANGE. Jessica. Best Supporting Actress.

60. Ireland, to poets: ERIN. Always need to wait for perps to distinguish from EIRE.

61. Cuba, to Castro: ISLA. Spanish for island.

62. Polecat relative: OTTER. Interesting factoid. Another: fishermen in southern Bangladesh have bred otters and trained them to chase fish into their nets.

63. Something to take lying down: REST.

64. It helps you get up: STEP. I liked the proximity of this clue with the previous clue, both a little tricky, too.

65. Orchestra section: REEDS.

DOWN:

1. 1997 Depp title role: BRASCO. Joseph Dominick Pistone, alias Donnie Brasco, is a former FBI agent who worked undercover for six years infiltrating two of the Five Families of the Mafia in New York City. He wrote the book Donnie Brasco, which became the movie. Not to be confused with "Donnie Darko", which was an entirely different Mad World.

2. Close again, as a change purse: RE-SNAP. I don't know if this should be hyphenated or not. Funny word, the "re" is kind of unnecessary.

3. Unlisted ones: OTHERS. Et al.

4. Cornered, in a way: TREED.

5. Frightful: HORRIFIC. Literally: hair-raising.

6. Milky Way, e.g.: BAR. Galaxy didn't fit.

7. "Be __": "Help me out": A DOLL. This seems like an old movie line, but I can't quite place it... If you try a search like I did, be careful what you click on, the word doll seems to return lots of "interesting" results.

8. Georges Braque, for one: CUBIST. Picasso is another. In cubist artworks, objects are broken up, analyzed, and re-assembled in an abstracted form—instead of depicting objects from one viewpoint, the artist depicts the subject from a multitude of viewpoints to represent the subject in a greater context. Often the surfaces intersect at seemingly random angles, removing a coherent sense of depth.

9. Bum: HEINIE. Prat. Fanny (US). Arse (UK).

10. Oberhausen "Oh!": ACH. German.

11. Considerable amount: GOOD DEAL.

12. Traditional song with the line "Je te plumerai": ALOUETTE. Anyone else have to sing this as a round back when they were in school?

13. Blue state: SADNESS. No politics, please...

19. Zola novel: NANA. Emile Zola. What a cheerful book. A story of a prostitute who destroys every man who pursues her. Several are ruined financially, others commit suicide, one with scissors, another burns himself to death in his barn. In the end, she dies of smallpox described in graphic detail. Critically acclaimed, of course.

21. Furtive type: SNEAK. Root words for sneak and snake are related.

25. Get in the game: ANTE. From Latin: before. Paying to play (cards).

31. Miss's equal?: MILE. idiom: "A miss is as good as a mile." Close only counts in horseshoes. Close but no cigar.

32. Landers with advice: ANN. As well as her sister Abigail Van Buren. (Dear Abby)

34. Wonderland cat: CHESHIRE. Grinning like one actually pre-dates Lewis Carrol. John Wolcot (Peter Pindar) used it in his satire, but the phrase was probably common before being written down. One interesting possible guess is that some influential family in Cheshire, with a lion rampant as its crest, employed some sign painter to paint the crest on the signboards of many of the inns. The painter was none too sure of the appearance of a lion and the final result looked, to the country folk, like an attempt to depict a grinning cat.

97 comments:

Good morning, Al, C.C. and gang - I thought this was pretty easy for a Thursday. The key for me was knowing the movie Donnie Brasco; that opened everything up in the NW, and it pretty much flowed from there. Very intuitive clues, and a funny theme made this an enjoyable solve. Oh, except when I got to 12D and created an earwig I can't shake.

Had a few unknowns in 'Asher', 'Lina' (which I can't ever remember), and 'Terence', but the perps saved my bacon. Also needed perp help with 'Calais'; I knew the city, but had no idea it was near the Chunnel. Favorite clue: 'Price that's rarely paid'. And I think the last time I heard the word 'heinie', I was about a foot tall.

Al, very educational, as always; thanks for some interesting links.Today is National Mud Pack Day.

Did You Know?:

- Every day more money is printed for Monopoly than the U.S. Treasury.

- The percentage of Africa that is wilderness: 28%. Percentage of North America that is wilderness: 38%.

- Intelligent people have more zinc and copper in their hair. (And people say metalheads are dumb...)

Good morning Al, CC et al., Not a speed run but thanks to perps this puzzle was not only doable but enjoyable, in spite of the high number of names. Great job, Al. Laughed at your 'doll' discovery. Ya just never know.

Well the answer is heads and tails for yesterday's question of which body parts we would have today. Even the song Alouette is about a bird whose feathers are on his head and then I think they're plucked not too nicely either as I remember. Plus we have 'noodle' (brain), and hood but mostly it is more tails than heads...not an altogether bad thing. 'Heinie', bum, tail, and bottom are all here. Heinie - bottom was always spelled 'hiney' and 'heinie' referred to my cold brew. it's all good, esp if they all come simultaneously. Cardinal sin cracked me up. I can only imagine that head and tail situation. Might need a head nurse for that sore tail, but that would be a 'good deal', IMHO.

We're having severe weather and school is delayed. Dennis, this may be moving to you. Fasten your seatbelt. Tornado warnings everywhere, flash flooding, blinding downpours. It's a day!

I had the opposite experience in the NW corner that Dennis had: I didn't remember Donnie BRASCO, and had filled in "Edward", instead. Hoo boy, that really messed me up for a while.

It did seem like there were a lot of proper names in this one, but I did get most with perp help. I had to look up mambo bandleader PUENTE, though. Thanks for the clip, Al - maybe I'll remember him next time.

Well, my "birdbrain" was put to the test today and blew it, barely. 46 A & D were the undoing. I thought the bandleader was Fuente even though I felt PSA was correct too, but I went with the F instead of the P. Needed lots of perp help in this one.

Loved Heinie for Bum. I kept thinking the answer was some kind of hobo. The light eventually came on.

The other area that had me going was Cardinal Cookes first name,. I knew it was Terence, but I kept wanting to use 2 N's.

Nicole will be getting here later today and is supposed to be a big one. We live in a wooded area so power outage is a guarantee, but they usually do not last too long. If the trees near the house remain upright, we,ll be OK.

Bit of a struggle today, especially in the NE section. Had a devil of a time trying to remember/figure out out how to spell ALOUETTE. Had A DEAR instead of A DOLL, didn't know NANA or LINA, couldn't commit to A DUE (even though I am familiar with the term), didn't know who Georges Braque was (let alone that he was a cubist) and just couldn't believe that 9D was, in fact, HEINIE. Had I done this in pen instead of a computer, that section would be completely blacked out with cross outs...

As for the theme, I thought it was a bit hit or miss. Loved CARDINAL SIN, ROBIN HOOD and CHICKEN NOODLE. KITE TAIL and EAGLE SCOUT seemed a bit too literal, however. I mean, kites (the bird variety) do have tails, so it's not much of a play on words. And EAGLE SCOUTS are named after the bird, so that's not much of a play on words either...

Hello Puzzlers - Lots of unknowns for me today. I couldn't tell a Cubist from a Cuban. Never knew that Israel had tribes. Only saw Johnny Depp as a pirate (and thought he was right good at it!). Forgot that lithe little Nadia was the first 10. LINA who? Hand up for A DEAR.

In short, this was a good day for perps.

HEINIE came as a surprise, haven't heard that in years. My older sister and her school friends used to sing "I like your heinie/it's nice and shiny/if you don't hide it/I might just bite it". Hey, we were a good deal younger then.

A more difficult puzzle requiring much back and forth to solve. Unknown names like LINA didn't help. But once I got the "hang" of the theme words it became more doable. Favorite theme word was CHICKEN NOODLE. Perps were very helpful. WAGs included BACH, ODIST, and PSA. Liked the clues for MILE and OTHERS. Came close, but no searches needed.

Loved to see Ms. Harry performing- something worth waking up for. And the Bach coffee commercial - almost Pythonesque!

And what a treat - a truly TRANSLANTIC clue at 9D, and so apropos a conversation we had the other day. And still time for me to put the kettle on at 29A.

I see Tony Curtis died last night. Reckon he had a decent inning(s). God love him, the girls certainly did. Talking of DOLLS, you can get a hand-made version of him playing in drag in SOME LIKE IT HOT:

So many PROPER names, but the perps solved them all at a stroke. Talking of which, Comaneci always seems to steal the show in crosswords. The original prepubescent, who did more to ease Cold War tension than anyone (or thing) I can think of, is here:

I also found this surprisingly easy for a Thursday. I had to use a GOOD DEAL of perp help for NAMEs, but got there with no outside assistance. My worst hang-up was going for monks and monasteries instead of TEA service, as well as not knowing the Zola novel. But I liked the bird clues, and the theme definitely helped.

I'm not familiar with the "as good as a mile" saying, so was wondering at first if they thought MILE was the abbreviation for Mademoiselle in French, which is of course Mlle, but I knew it had to be CHICKEN, so let it alone.

I used to use Alouette to teach the names of body parts in French. We'd go through as many different ones as we could, substituting for tête.

Lois,Wow! Stay safe, we only have "weather" delays for snow or ice here.

Very interesting write-up, Al. I liked the Mazda ad. Different model from mine, but I do love the brand, and his interpretation of how to determine its Britishness was pricelss. With so many Japanese manufacturers building cars here now, I think we can consider just about any foreign car not to be so foreign now.

I forgot to mention earlier, I didn't even remember LANGE in Tootsie, but when Dustin or Hoffman wouldn't fit, I just went with the flow.

Like Dennis, I didn't ever think about where the chunnel comes out, since the last time I crossed the channel There was no chunnel. But it made sense that it would be at the shortest crossing point, and it fit, so I went with it.

Like others have mentioned today, the frequent unknown names sent me perp hunting, but I probably do it more often than those who know authors and sports figures, so this puzzle didn't seem any worse for me.

60A reminded me of a poem I've been waiting for an opportunity to share.

"The Girl I Left Behind Me"

The dames of France are fond and free,And Flemish lips are willing,And soft the maids of Italy,While Spanish eyes are thrilling.Still, though I bask beneath their smiles,Their charms all fail to bind me;For my heart goes back to Erin's isleTo the girl I left behind me.

She said, "My own dear love, come home,"My friends are rich and many,"Or else with you abroad I'll roam,"A soldier stout as any."If you'll not come nor let me go,"I'll think you have resigned me."My heart near broke when I answered, "No."To the girl I left behind me.

For never shall my true love braveA life of war and toiling.And never, as a skulking slaveI'll tread my native soil on.But were it free, or to be freed,The battle's close would find meTo Ireland bound, nor message needFrom the girl I left behind me.

Sorry, my copy doesn't list an author to credit it to, but I saw online that there are many variations.

I never knew that Zinc and Copper make you that smart - eh ? Makes sense - I always knew redheads ( carrot tops with lots of copper ) were smarter than blondes, who just have platinum.

On money printed by the U S Mint - is 18 billion dollars, and counting. Over 82% of the dollar bills - and over 92% of the $ 100 dollar bills circulate OUTSIDE the US. Thats just an interest free loan from the rest of the world to us... and even better, 8 % of that money is lost, stolen, burnt, torn and never reclaimed from the US, so thats just a grreat gift to us.

However, the U S Treasury is so concerned with money laundering especially in the drug trade that, they decided to NEVER reprint a $ 500 dollar bill - even if it would make oodles of noodles, and a 'good deal' of 'interest free' money for the US.

So the Euro 500, and the Singapore $ 1000, ( and the Latvia Lat 1000 and the Swiss Fr.500 ) remain the largest denomination bills around.

Britain does not have a note larger than 50 Pounds, for exactly the same reason.

@Lucina, cola (the beverage) used to be made using Kola nuts (the seed of the tree) for their high caffeine and theobromine content. Theobromine is actually the main stimulant found in tea instead of caffeine. Most modern colas do not do that any longer though, due to the bitterness that has to be overcome with even more sugar. Coca Cola used to also use coca leaves, which contained cocaine, so it was a double-dose of stimulant back then. Now they use cocaine-free leaf extract from Stepan Company, which describes itself as the largest global merchant manufacturer of anionic surfactants, which are used to enhance the foaming and cleaning capabilities of detergents, shampoos, toothpastes and cosmetics. Sounds yummy, huh?

Coke changed the name Kola to Cola for marketing alliteration purposes, but interestingly the genus name of that group of plants including the kola tree (Africa) is Cola as well. It is also related to the cocoa tree (South America).

I'm not sure what was confusing about ach, or how that relates to kola?

I think what NC is/was alluding to is the fact that the 'Mad Hatter' referred to in his avatar, and in 'Alice in the Wonderland', was 'mad', because of his occupation.

Hatting or the millinery (?) business workers were required to work with the element mercury, for 'curing' hat felts and skin pelts - and that created an occupational contact hazard, through the mercury fumes - and they eventually went 'crazy' - or 'mad' - with neurological damage - which also caused their early demise.

BTW elemental zinc, is the only 'proven' medicine that can help you with the 'common cold' - proved by the Cleveland Clinic ( 2001).

This was an easier than usual Thurs xwd for me; I only had to G for Calais, and Lille. Had many WAGs, like dun and nana and the P in Puente.The perps helped with heinie, lina and adue.......

Al, as always, a great write up. So enjoyed the DIVA commercial and watched others that also made me laugh.Enjoyed The Unicorn Song. Soon we will be hearing their Grandma Got Run over by a Reindeer.Thx for the explanation of miss=mile.It was a perp fill and I didn't grok it. I thought odist was odd.

George Braque's cubist work is fascinating.I didn't think a lot about Picasso's art until I started studying some of his cubist pieces.

Dudley: It must be a universal tune...Like the tune to "Nyah nyah nuh nyah nyah." Interestingly..so is the childhood drawing of the house with smoking chimney with a tree by it and one door and two windows... even in cultures who live in huts and tents!

Before I read any of your comments today, I want to say that I, for one, usually read the previous night's late posts before reading the current day's posts. So Bill G., I for one did read your late message; please consider this my response to it. I confess I sometimes feel as if my posts are not read, but I realize not everybody can respond directly to what everybody else says, so I don't worry about it.

Speaking of that, thank you, lois, for responding to my SOONER comment. A very good friend of mine, who was born and grew up in Oklahoma, is the person from whom I heard that expression; I was just passing it along. I like your SOONERs better, though.

A nice smooth Thursday puzzle for me. The only problems I had were ones I created for myself.

I'm a Johnny Depp fan and I think I had too many possibilities going through my head. It took help from a couple of perps to help get (1D) BRASCO. Here's the great "fughedaboudit" scene.

I got it into my head that "Je te plumerai" belonged to "Frere Jacques". That wouldn't fit, so back I went, singing as I solved. I learned ALOUETTE long before I studied French in high school and never thought about the meaning of the lyrics. Pretty HORRIFIC song to teach to six year olds....the things they taught us when we were little tykes and used words like HEINIE!

I liked seeing the Alice In Wonderland-ish TEA SETS and CHESHIRE (cat) on opposite sides of the grid. Even Johnny Depp fit in with his recent turn as the Mad Hatter.

Annette, your poem "The Girl I Left Behind Me" was written by Thomas Davis, a 19th century Irish revolutionary writer and poet.

Thanks Lemonade for the "Priscilla" clip...an excellent movie!

Nice Cuppa, I'm not too sure if the "Life's a DOLL" site isn't just kind of creepy. Definitely fascinating, in a weird way. Sorry to hear about Tony Curtis. I always thought he was a rather unappreciated actor. He was also a well known modernist artist in his later years.

It will be in the mid-90's here today. It is hard to imagine those of you who are hunkering down for Nicole. AND possible ice and snow for Kazie's area? Stay safe, everyone.

CHESHIRE- A cat bred by a Cuban revolutionary and a "Godfather" actress.ANTE- Mame's card playing alter ego.ASTERS- They come with risks.HEREITIS- Malady that befalls one stuck in a rut.ALOUETTE- Traditional song about a baseball family.

Buck on the side says Windhover doesn't think it a CARDINAL SIN to stay in RADICAL INNS.

Franklin wrote a book called "KITE TAILS" Heyerdahl wrote one called "TIKI TALES"

"Quick, name a Vietnamese president and a Russian prince, ROBIN HOOD""HO, BORODIN"

Lucina and CA,No, I didn't mean to infer that we are having ice or snow today--I just was commiserating with Lois, comparing why she is having a delay in school starting, with what we get delays for around here. Actually it's a beautiful sunny 70 degree day here with nice breezes. I had a nice walk with the dog and all.

I find it highly amusing that Nice Cuppa now has a helper: "Just helping Nice Cuppa".

Kazie, thanks for the explanation. LOL, you'll be having ice and snow before long anyway. We won't rush it!

One of the reasons Shel Silverstein is so popular with children is that many of his stories and poems are either rather dark (kids love scary...but not too scary), or about kids who are dumber than they are. Here's one of those.

Smart

My dad gave me one dollar bill'Cause I'm his smartest son,And I swapped it for two shiny quarters'Cause two is more than one!

And then i took the quartersAnd traded them to LouFor three dimes-i guess he don't knowthat three is mroe than two!

Just them, along came old blind BatesAnd just 'cause he can't seeHe gave me four nickels for my three dimes,And four is more than three!

And i took the nickels to Hiram CoombsDown at the seed-feed store,and the fool gave me five pennies for them,And five is more than four!

And then i went and showed my dad,and he got red in the cheeksAnd closed his eyes and shook his head-Too proud of me to speak!

Hello everybody. As for today's puzzle, you all have said it already; I can't really add anything.

But I will anyway.

Taking HEINIE, for example, I don't like it much. But when I try to look at it from the constructor's point of view, I see a scenario in which the constructor ends up with HEINIE and is stuck with making the best of it. The only alternative to keeping it and making the best of it, that I can see, is to rip it all up and start over. I have come to realize that virtually every puzzle is going to have its share of EFTS, SSTS, TCHR, CCCI, XXVX, and other such detritus that can't be eliminated. Whattya gonna do when you've got a big fat ole CDII staring up at you?

One thing I really liked about this puzzle are the relatively long entries. ALOUETTE is outstanding, for example. So are HORRIFIC and TERENCE. I got fooled by TEASETS again, wanting some sort of religious terminology in there.

Another thing I liked about this puzzle are the bird theme entries, which elicited a chuckle or two. I smiled at ROBIN HOOD and then looked forward to getting the others. CHICKEN NOODLE gave me a laugh, too, because I haven't used "noodle" to mean "head" for a long time, not since my parents used to tell us to "Use your noodle" to try to get us to think before we do something foolish.

A friend once offered to let me drive her Miata that I was admiring, but I flat out couldn't fit into it! That sucker is tiny! Well, I'm not as flexible and skinny as I used to be, either.

Anyway, I can pat myself on the back (not literally) for solving this entire puzzle without having to googoolala anything, even though it took me two (pleasurable) hours to do it.

Hahtool: - just to let you know, you are not as 'invisible' as you ( so often, and erroneously ) think.

The Flintstones 50th anniversary is being celebrated in the 'Google' doodle today.

Also interesting, is that the 'toon was originally aimed at adults, for the first 2 years, and their original sponsor was 'Winston cigarettes'.- and both Fred and Wilma 'smoked' on the screen, in more ways than one. The kid's 'toons started in the third season, with Welch's grape juice as the sponsor.

Also , some of their movie idols on the Hollyrock area of Bedrock,, were Stony Curtis and Cary Granite. Their fav band was Mick Jadestone and the Rolling Boulders.

Tony Curtis - ( real name Bernard Schwartz )(R.I.P)died yesterday. I know somebody else, has already brought it up - so I am not 'ignoring' them, nor are they 'invisible' - I just can't locate that particular post. My apologies.

Hi all,I woke up at 4 AM today and decided to do the puzzle on line about 5AM.It was rather difficult, I thought.

When Kazie mentioned the snow and ice, I think she saying that's when we have delays, etc.not today. Today in south central and south western Wisconsin it is 70 degrees and sunny.It is supposed to turn cooler in a couple days but not that cool, I hope. However, you can never tell in Wis.

I was amused yesterday when I read Oct.5th is the day more people are born. That is our wedding anniversary. 53 years-wow!

Got to the crossword in the a.m. again, for a change. Not much new to add about the puzzle. I tried A DEAR for A DOLL, but that didn't last long. Heinie was the last to fall (actually, it didn't until I came here). I heard it a lot as a kid, and sometimes since (usually others talking/shouting to kids), but the spelling threw me. However, when I tried to spell it other ways, HEINIE did seem to be the best. I guess it is like UEY - a word that is familiar orally, but seems wrong when spelled out, no matter how you do it.

Regarding the quote of the day - if there is 28% of land as wilderness in NA, most must be in Canada (likely) and/or Mexico. Then again, it depends on the definition of 'wilderness'. As for the U.S., just 5% is protected as wilderness (2% of the continental U.S.). In Montana, 3.7% of the state is protected wilderness land. To some, unprotected wilderness is just land awaiting resource extraction or development, not really wilderness.

Shel Silverstein wrote some great children's poetry, but not everyone knows that he also created adult material, including cartoons for Playboy and (note: adult content and languate) this interesting poem, read aloud here.

Thanks for reminding me, Otis. I usually think of Shel Silverstein for his cute kiddie lit and forget how really adult, satiric and funny he could be. He was a terrific song writer too. He wrote Johnny Cash's "A Boy Named Sue" and (I loved this one) The Cover Of The Rolling Stone, the 1973 hit sung by Dr. Hook and the Medicine Show.

I had my troubles with this but managed to work them out. 7D 'Be a Doll' was not what I thought at first, I wanted 'be a pal'.

Laughed at 9D Bum...I LOVE the British sayings and 'bum' is one of them (so is arse). Then there is the infamous "keep your pecker up", which is what was said to a hospital patient. Of course I later found out it meant 'moral or spirits'..calm down Dennis...go stand in your front yard. :)

I was so surprised to find out that an otter was a relative of a pole cat. I put SKUNK in at first.

13D Had me going for a while, as I was thinking of the political meaning.

Most of the many names in this puzzle stalled me and I had to look them up. I never was too good with names, especially foreign cities.

@Jerome, it's ALL monopoly money. Only one source, the Fed, can produce it, there's no (legal) competition for that. And since it is all fiat currency anyway, not based on precious metals or anything of real value like it used to be, just the government's word, it is pretty valueless. Basically, if the government goes bankrupt, so do we all.

Trivia Reader at 11:17 ~ consider that $1M in $100 US dollar bills weighs more than 22 pounds, while the equivalent sum in 500 Euro notes weighs less than 5 pounds. That is also a factor in why the US doesn't print larger denominations. (Source: La Vanguardia).

Thanks for the vote of confidence, Windhover. I do miss your voice here.

This one was a pretty good workout. 34 minutes and missed one 9D (HEINIE). I considered that solution but couldn't quite figure out how to spell it. Also, I didn't know 15A (ADUE) or 22A (LINA). I'm not sure I've ever seen "heinie" spelled before, although I've heard it often enough. Didn't know 1D (BRASCO) or 46D (PUENTE) or 41A (TERENCE), but managed to work them all out OK.

Otis, thx for posting The Perfect High. I had also forgotten about his adult works.

Jayce, I always read your posts.I think many of us feel invisible.I'm trying harder to address more of you because I love reading everybody (most of the time)

Lemonade, enjoyed the Pricilla clip. For a long time after seeing that movie, I listened to the sound track..such great music: Billy Don't be a Hero, I Love the Nightlife, Take a Letter Maria, and Mama Mia.

I always read everyone's posts, but as has been said, it would push the blogs number of comments to the 200 mark if all responded directly to each other. I feel like it some days but try to use restraint.

Most of you are far more educated than I...I enjoy your comments and learn from you all. Who knew one could have so much fun and get an education at the same time! Love it.

Bill G. was wondering, I think most of us read the previous night's posts. I also try to read everything that is posted during the day. Sometimes, we all miss here and there (this is a big newsy blog). That doesn't mean I, you or anyone else is being ignored. As Carol pointed out @4:35 it would be impossible for everyone to respond to everyone else.

BTW, I was interested (and maybe a little amused) about yesterday's response about the use of medical marijuana. It looks like most people can see the medical benefits, even if they might disapprove of marijuana use in general. Some people may have "dabbled a time or two", (hey, it is 2010!) and others may not want to cop to it (understandable). Anyway, I haven't made up my mind about it yet. If I start posting about how I have come up with brilliant ways to save the world, you'll know I've crossed the line.

Time to get ready for Thursday chorus practice. Have a good evening all.

Buenos Tardes, I had to sub today and could not find a way around the school filter to get to youse guys although I did get a World Herald to spend some pleasant time doing this lovely puzzle in pencil sans coffee.

I forgot the intro to Heart of Glass but I thought it sounded like a coffee percolator which compliments the Bach Coffee Cantata.

I left the puzzle thinking MILE was a var. for MMLE and was proud to remember LILLE from a few days ago.

Dennis, no heinie pictures (no plumbers please!).

Could be a frost this weekend and I really feel for the weather woes of others, but we'll have plenty of meteorological issues soon enough here on the mighty Platte River and environs.

Mon Chere Bayou,I am female. I live not very far from the meat market that made turduckens famous. In fact I am baking 2 shrimp deboned chickens from said place. what bayou are you near? Of course i meant shrimp stuffed. good stuff.

I do think many people read the late posts but it seems they don't get responded to much. I enjoy it when people respond to my posts and yet I often forget to respond to theirs. I'll try to do a bit better. Jayce, I enjoy everything you write.

The stifling heat of Monday has gone away. It's 73 right now and some fog is rolling up the hill from the beach.

There were more than a few complaints about TCHR yesterday. I don't know that I've ever needed to abbreviate 'teacher' but how would you do it otherwise?

Was it my imagination or was there a lot of French in today's puzzle? I probably do a bit better with Spanish.

HEINIE seemed OK to me. How about TUSHIE next?

Have you checked out the Google doodle today?

Lucina says she doesn't drink Coke because the taste is too harsh. Have you ever tried Moxie? I bet Mainiac has.

Bill G. and Jaycee, I often read the late nite posts just before going to bed. I usually don't respond, because it is late and I don't feel that my response would add much to what has already been said all day long.

I always read the posts before I make my comments, because I don't want to repeat something someone else has already commented on. Quite often, I'm late in getting the puzzle done, and by that time much has already been said regarding the Xwrd.

A couple of exceptions to this might be if I'm interrupted before I've finished my entry, then go to the publish button without reading what has come in in the meantime. I don't feel the need to make another post saying I'm sorry for duplicating something.

Dennis- Ever have something pulling at your memory, tugging at your conciousness like there's something you need to do and you just can't figure out what it is? I know the road to hell is paved with good intentions, but truly, it's just dawned on me what it is that I haven't done.

Bill G, I have always read the previous. once not long ago ,the last post, maybe by Creature, was short but the next day Dennis' comment had me ROFL I'll try to find it.Funny stuff. I too would love to address each person but cant. Did you read my post? I meant every word.Dennis, thanks for the response. LOL. Hatool , loved the LA thingy! Merci,Yall, Rock

Not an easy puzzle for me today. Though I caught on to the birds, I couldn't fly with them. Also, too much French for my little bird brain.

I'll just add that NADIA is an ethnic Hungarian, as was her coach, Bela Karoly. And I guarantee you cannot properly pronounce KAROLY - Hungarian for Charles or Karl. Our grandmother would call my cousin Karl, "KAROLY," and I could never twist those consonants the way she did.

Not much for pop music, but always liked Debbie Harry a lot.

Here is a TITO Puente song you probably associate with Carlos (KAROLY) Santana. (Hey - King trombone - a lot like mine. Lots newer, I'll bet.)

Okay folks, for once I was the "customer" today and had to do some "heinie" chewin' so no time for the puzzle until tonight. I loved the theme and caught onto it right away with Robin Hood, cardinal sin and my favorite, Chicken noodle. It's about time for a chicken soup recipe, or have I already done that one? As you know I really struggle with names, and usually mirror Kazie on these. Not today! Good job Kazie. Didn't know Puente, Terence, Lina, and that George Braque was a cubist. I got some from perp/red letter help also with Asher, dun, and Nana; and some by visiting Mr. G-spot.

Al, I enjoyed your links, especially the one for "fen"...took me home. Thanks. As far as the Nadia clip, my hand is up in the air for some sort of "enhancement" help.

Is it just me, or are we attracting a much less interesting and creative class of Anons lately. The ones I remember could be grossly insulting and despicable, you just wanted to strangle them with some body part you'd ripped off. The current ones are like swatting at gnats; just boringly annoying. Also re: "people aren't reading and/or commenting on my posts";Given the past predictive capability of the puzzles, I predict that any day now we will have a five letter word meaning "a feeling of anxiety". Many of us read every word, even by the anons.

Windhover, you have a point there - too many posters ( I wont name names ) seems to be very anxious that they be 'read' ( in short, ... be acknowledged in some form, in somebody else's post - )- or they think they are being 'ignored' or appearing ' invisible ' to others ...

Come on, guys, there is only so much to write about - and we cant concentrate on more than 3 or 4 points at a time - and some of the 'side reads' are interesting only to a few posters.

I for one, am not interested in sports - my eyes just glaze over when somebody discusses the antics of some game - they might as well be talking about Dian Fossey's gorillas - I dont want to respond to the message. So if I post, and nobody replies or comments - thats life - it is what it is.

As for annoying and despicable comments - I guess thats just not my style - after all this is a 'Stylish' blog - is it not?

I had a cousin that when she and her husband had moved into a new house, they were having trouble falling asleep. The rain forest tapes and the white noise tapes weren't working. One night, they put in kid's nursery rhymes, perhaps even Alouette, and they fell right to sleep.

I was ready to go to sleep - when something kept bothering me - so I got up, from under my blanket, and rushed down to my den - - I 'happened' to read an Anon note saying nasty things to our dear Jeannie -and now I see the note has dissapp ( Thank God).

Jeannie, there are lots of us people, who love you, cherish you and look forward to your comments - YOU complete us. So, dont let some nasty meanie get to you. You are in my dreams - we feel for you - God bless you.

LTL - you'd be surprised at how many insecure people there are in this world - I've heard some teenagers get so insecure and inadequate that they actually subscribe and pay for obscene phone calls, sexting messages, and actually pay for lies to be 'floated' about them on twitter and some of the school blogs. They just want to be mentioned - and discussed in the 'in' crowd - otherwise they have a major depression in the works.

Annoy-mouse go blue, it will be good for you. I thought your name was Anonny-mouse, and pictured you scurrying about the house..

Everybody likes to be recognized and we are a tremendously insecure population; I just find it amusing when someone complains about not being read when they are repeating an earlier blog comment. As WH says, this is fun, no grades, no competition (unless that is your thing). This is not supposed to anything but some fun, some challenge and learning; oh and some really bad puns from Jerome. Which reminds me, where are you John L., all good? Fred, Doug P. where are thee?

Thanks for taking my back "Jeannie lovers". I for one don't even acknowledge "Jeannie" haters anymore. I know who I am and how I became who I am; and am damned proud of who I am. Thanks Mom & Dad. (Nick & Thelma). Who by the way (WH) both worked outside of the home. As Thelma used to say, "put that in your pipe and smoke it". In retrospect, I never quite knew what that meant until I reached my late teens and early 20's, then it all came together. A whole new meaning came to me in my 30's-40's.

Speaking of repetition, again, the best method for handling anons is to ignore them completely, let one of us quickly delete the post, and then the little person is gone without a trace. And making a remark after the post has been deleted only leads to confusion.

What's the difference between an anon. and a person with a black name? Aren't they both anonymous but just with a different heading? A black name can change his/her name every time or use someone else's black name, can't they?